samedi 11 décembre 2010

Gerard Wozek, American poet and author, just wrote 24 Japanese-inspired Tanka poems to accompany BillyBoy* paintings show in Japan

unnumbered floating tanka for BillyBoy*

over a crest of tall brush
splash of pond water
a tadpole unseen
I float and spin
in a lotus petal


Seen here with Lala and Vico in 2001 in Switzerland. Gerard recently wrote 24 Japanese-inspired Tanka poems, which are to be translated into Japanese and written in calligraphy by Sumiko Watanabe for the up-coming show of BillyBoy*'s paintings. One is above.

He
recently wrote to BillyBoy*, who is terribly moved and adores the poems.

Dearest:

I've completed my "Twenty-Four Tanka for BillyBoy* ". . .I hope you will see that my words have sprung to life because of your exquisite drawings and I think together the words and images create a lovely resonance--an artful alchemy! Again, I thought the Japanese TANKA form would honor the embedded potent Eros in your drawings.

Part One takes the first 10 images and uses them as reference points or springboards into an imagined erotic scenario grounded in nature. Part Two finds it's poetic locus in the desert and incorporates the titles of your drawings (sometimes a word or two, sometimes the entire title) into the tanka.

I'm excited to hear your reaction--I found relief and joy in creating these poems! Thank you for sharing your work with me and I hope these humble little Tankas honor your intentions!

Love,

Gerard

and also he wrote:

Oh I'm sooooooooooooooo happy!!! I'm really thrilled that you like them and that you're pleased to have your images joined with these words! I love being "wedded" to you in this fashion! Makes perfect sense to be joined at the imagination and it's all as it should be . .wouldn't you agree!? I'm very very excited about being part of the upcoming show and your fabulous website ---truly I'm honored-- and from the bottom of my heart, THANKYOU!!--and I really love the idea of an actual Japanese translation--wow!!

You know, I can't believe that it been SO MANY years since we first met! 1993? Heavens!! Can it really be almost two decades!!!!! What brave survivors we are!

you'll see I've also included an unnumbered "floating Tanka" just for you my dear!

Thank you again for keeping me alive this season with all your love and your well wishes! You'll never know how much this collaboration with you means to me!

Devotedly with love,

Gerard



Gerard Wozek loves to collaborate with friends and artists and he is utterly inspired by the work of icon BillyBoy*! His first book of poetry, Dervish, won the Gival Press Poetry Award. His poetry video, Dance of the Electric Moccasins, took first place honors at the Potenza Film Festival in Italy in 2005. He teaches creative writing and the humanities full-time at Robert Morris University Illinois in Chicago. His most recent book of short fiction and travel tales, Postcards from Heartthrob Town, (Haworth Press, 2007) was nominated for a Lambda Literary Award. Wozek is currently at work on a memoir which details growing up in a closed adoption.

Soon, we will include all the Tankas and the paintings.

BillyBoy* et Anne-Shelton Aaron, Genève. Photo © Lala , 2007

EGO Magazine, the dazzling Anne Shelton Aaron and stunning Holly Woodlawn (in black)

mardi 16 novembre 2010

Mdvanii Stirs Her Lover's Desire!




Mdvanii Stirs Her Lover's Desire!
BY SUNIL P. NARAYAN I NOVEMBER 15, 2010

The designers of Paris say Mdvanii is an immortal muse who lives in the heart of every artist
From her chair she imparts ideas to a grand couturier expecting nothing in return
Sitting on a silk seat containing the feathers of Zeús' eagle
The legs made from the crushed material of diamonds

She sees her master in all directions, a large man standing proudly
Yet, is trapped in a luxurious home with no one to keep her company
How can an emotional lady survive this arduous life?
Her enlarged heart and sophisticated walk enchanted the socialites of the city

Now, the reality of Mdvanii is a preserved muse for a demanding couturier
She looks upwards to see lust and creativity colliding
From such a powerful fight pearls strung with gold fall into her hands
A meager compensation for a sumptuous lady!

She sighs before changing into her evening dress
The spring season once blossomed like her marigolds
Surprising all who lounged at the saloons
As if Gaïa was splashed with the color of the forest trees!

In the corner of her room a closet with shelves perfectly lined with
shoes made from colors of the rainbow
Pink, blue, red, orange and yellow!
Each day she picks a pair to match her silk gloves
A string of pearls to tie around her waist, gold bracelets to place on her light wrists, and moonstone pins to hold her thick hair in a chignon

A refined lady has choices, choices and choices!
Twenty evening dresses made for the Queen of Norway hang from the hooks
They’re waterfalls of creamy colors from the Amazon jungles
For each one gold thread was sewn into the fabric to form a blossoming magnolia

As she puts on her heels Charles wraps a silk shawl made of crushed rose quartz
around her supple body
He adorns her smooth neck with a ruby necklace so long it rests between her breasts
She barely notices this sweet gesture while applying pink blush
Her eyes in the shape of the waning Selēnē are lost in serenity

A man who drinks to squash his guilt must continue to lavish his goddess with pieces befitting the Queen of the Universe!
Gemstones smuggled from India are crushed into light powder
He sprinkles it onto white strips of cloth then smoothes it out
Although, a doubt pricks his mind, making him feel guilty for doing a cruel deed

His clients knock on the rotting door of his studio demanding their garments
Charles shoos them away as if they are wandering beggars
His mind fixated on a refined woman entrapped in his heart
He gives her potent lust to taste yet Mdvanii rejects it

What seems to be the magnificence of couturier is in fact Mdvanii!
She runs along his arms tickling him
With one hand the resplendent muse blows blue petals into his mind
To her surprise the wind snatches her white hat snickering in delight

Mdvanii’s eyes turn red with bubbling anger
She’s a cat ready to pounce a taunting mouse!
On his sewing table a large red gemstone manifests
Cut in the shape of a tulip, its sharp edge is hardly noticeable
Passion gives it color for which Charles fixates on

He rubs the edge unaware of blood sliding down the treasure
Mdvanii plays her games without giving a reason
She is a muse of few words but her actions have a language of their own
Charles will never see her inner world for he was devoured by his own

http://slothjockey.com/poetry/narayan_sunil/mdvanii_lover.shtml

lundi 15 novembre 2010

CHECK OUT The Art by Davey Factory Website: http://www.artbydavey.com



"The Bull Fight" - Art by Davey, self-portrait in Photo Booth ME

A new dance piece inspired by Shakespeare's Hamlet, "To Be or Not To Be" which will be performed by Davey on Saturday, December 4th, at 8pm, Bowery Poetry Club in part of the Vangeline Dance Theater Cabaret Show where each performer chooses a quote from a list of several writers. "The Bull Fight" was created by Art by Davey in response to the recent disturbing news of the gay teen suicides across the US this Fall.

for information on the show, check out the blog and comments section from performers in the show for background thoughts:
http://anunusualcabaretshow.blogspot.com

CHECK OUT The Art by Davey Factory Website:
http://www.artbydavey.com

dimanche 14 novembre 2010

Christopher Stribley's Show A Success, PLUS He's In Love With Marcus Rock & They Are Making Love In Public, A Sexier Remake Of The 19th-Century





Okay World; Listen Up!

This is how it went down at multi-talented artist Christopher Stribley's show recently, in his own words:

"The opening went very well, I thought. It was certainly well received. Gazelle Polo attended and brought a documentary crew with him. They're filming a documentary about him, but he specifically chose to come to my event, which was utterly delightful. He also brought Paul Alexander with him, who was lovely. There was a lady who spent some time studying the images intently and making very thoughtful comments on them and asking me questions. When she was leaving she revealed that she's a gallery owner and would love to have me show in her gallery on Broome St and she gave me her card. So that's very exciting.

The turn-out wasn't huge, but everyone who was there clearly enjoyed the show and I was very pleased with the outcome. I think it works very well in the store and CC was so delighted with it, that she asked if I could keep it up for the rest of the year. So I think it went very well for something that I curated completely on my own on a shoe string budget.

I have a few more pics that I will post in the near future. I really must crash for now, as I need rest so I can go to the American Garbage opening tomorrow. that's the show I did the Trashionista (Anna Wintour) piece for, which has already been very well received.

Really quickly too, you may have noticed from some of my posts that I am madly in love and it's SO unexpected and wonderful! More on that soon too. Marcus Rock. Heaven."

So, that sounds pretty rootin' tootin' fantastic considering how dreary the world is right now and how hard it is to do anything artistic....SO, if you have any pretense to collecting good pieces of new art, as you can see, it is beyond reasonably priced. If you are in New York City, just go to the venue and buy something. Do so before you can't and you regret it when he turns into an "art darling" and you won't be able to afford a damn thing from him!

Check it out immediately, buy something and feel good knowing that you have a work of art from someone who is not only talented but also in love, an added perk....so few show love in such a public way as he and his fiancé Marcus Rock....reading their lovemaking on FaceBook is not only deliciously voyeuristic but it's like a super 21st-century version of the 19th-century....Christopher is like literature but without the effort of reading.....just as dreamy but easier to figure into your emploi du temps.....he's a poem infact.

As you can also see, he's turning into a romantic 19th-century portrait and resembles more than ever before a painting from the 19th-century....but in a very 21st-century way...

I'm telling you he is pure art....

jeudi 4 novembre 2010

Guy Bourdin cover try featuring Mdvanii for Harper's Bazaar, 1989


"In 1989 since several years I was an editor for Harper's Bazaar in Paris for the French and Italian editions...I was contributing articles about my celebrity friends and about fashion and art. One big feature was called BillyBoy* Goes To Hollywood". Cathy Wilke was editor-in-chief. Due to this happy association, they in turn were extremely generous in that they often wrote about me, did big articles about various projects of mine, featured the work Lala and I were doing in couture accessories such as the jewels we did for the various haute couturiers, and I regularly modeled for them in clothes by Gaultier and Mugler. When Mdvanii debuted in 1989 they also did a huge feature article and often showed her. Here, Guy Bourdin made a cover try, making a model look as close as possible to the first Mdvanii (who is wearing her debut ensemble of a opera coat in green satin over a pale pink satin gown with it's black lace overskirt called Reception Mondaine). I think it came out but I don't recall what the final cover looked like. I kept this polaroid in my diary as it was given to me during the shooting. I recently found it while looking through my diaries. Looking back, I find the image very fascinating and haunting." - BillyBoy*

samedi 23 octobre 2010

"Iris Noir" Mdvanii 1989/90 Prototype




"Iris Noir" Mdvanii 1989/90 Prototype





"Double Rhogit-Rhogit" by BillyBoy* & Lala 1993/2001


This painting was started in 1993 and finished in 2001 ....it was shown in a number of museum shows including the 2001 exhibition at La Maison d'ailleurs museum, Yverdon-les-Bains, Switzerland show called "Mdvanii, Souvenirs de la Terre - BillyBoy* & Lala" and Musée d'Elysée, Lausanne, Switzerland .

It was Andy Warhol who personally taught BillyBoy* to do silkscreen painting and this work was created using that process and hand brush strokes. It is one of a large series depicting Mdvanii and her friends and family.

"Is The Doll World Ready For A Little Discipline?" by BillyBoy* & Lala 1998


This iconic Mdvanii called "Discipline" was shown in a number of different important museum shows in Europe and Switzerland and sold for a record price at a Hotel Drouot contemporary art sale (Maitre Robert & Associate) ten years after her creation. She appeared on the poster for the Halle Saint Pierre museum exhibition in Paris, France called "Poupées" was seen in every corner and every kiosk of the city, including everywhere on the Paris Métro. She now is in a private collection. The chair is by a Thailandese designer. The black case contains her own dildoes.

jeudi 21 octobre 2010

Mdvanii Supports Glammy Awards - Celebrating New York's New Superstars






http://www.nextmagazine.com/shot-dark/fierth-magazine-pre-glammy-awards-party-vig27

Fierth Magazine Pre Glammy Awards Party @ Vig27 - Brian Mills' online magazine/blog celebrated the nominees for this year's Glammy Awards in Murray Hill.

In Photos:

Mike Diamond

Francis Legge

Joey Arias

and MDVANII'S LEGS on her MDVANIIISM teeshirt which Mr Mills so elegantly wears.


MDVANII CELEBRATES THE GLAMMY AWARDS AND CONGRATULATES BIRAN MILLS AND FIERTH!

www.fierth.com

mercredi 13 octobre 2010

“Zhdrick”. Paris, 1993. Shown in the FNAC show in 1993 which traveled for 3 years throughout France

Sunil Narayan's poems about Mdvanii were published today on Online Pagans Magazine, a poetry forum


http://www.onlinepagans.com/

Sunil Narayan's erotic poems about Mdvanii, Soraya and Ishwar were published today on
Online Pagans Magazine, a poetry forum. We all congratulate him.


Ivy Ney photo of BillyBoy* in Los Angeles, 1980s

From the photographic series "Constant Craving", 2006 shown at the Musée d'Elysée. Lausanne, Switzerland

"On a beautiful autumn day Mdvanii and Rhogit-Rhogit talk openly about their bisexuality”. Mdvanii and Rhogit-Rhogit, Compiègne-Chantilly, 1993.

This famous image was used for three years during an exhibition throughout France at the FNAC galleries and also for the famous box for the Mdvanii and family dolls of the years of the exhibitions. BillyBoy* took his dolls on a "road trip" throughout France and photographed them in famous cities.

This famous box will make it's re-appearance with the new editions of Mdvanii and the "Classic Mdvanii Clone" series for winter 2011 available soon. Cheong Kwon represents them in NY. There soon will be a great new series of United States venues and projects including a book.

BillyBoy* aged 17 at home on Park Avenue and a few Barbie dolls...